Friday, May 29, 2009

Google Wave - Gmail 2.0

Google has announced Google Wave - Gmail redefined. And its kinda cool. It is Google's answer to social networking stickiness and an attempt at turning your Gmail interface into a social networking, Web conversation and communication portal - where you go to do mail, IM, share pics, update mates and tweet.

Looks like all its missing is voice calling, blogging and I'm done. More time at Gmail here we all go - and one last goodbye to AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft mail. At least for consumers. At first...

Bing v Wave - the Next Net Frontier

Microsoft and Google are pitching their futures on two new services that point towards the next Web frontier - convergence. Microsoft yesterday announced Bing as its latest answer to Google search. It is not a direct competitor to Google search, but a competitor in trying to redefine Web searching - not just a search engine but a 'decision engine'. A kind of Web 2.0 Wolfram Alpha.

If, by now, you are totally confused - lets try and simplify. Bing attempts to change search engine into Internet assistant. Not just providing the most relevant links, but exposing the most relevant answers, which includes simple access to the information. Video thumbnails go live as you hover over. Shopping comparison is embedded and travel information comes alive. Try it - it goes fully live next Wednesday.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Animoto Turns Slideshows into Videos

There is a small crop of new Web 2.0 start-ups going after the slideshow to Web video space. Animoto looks to be one of the cooler players. Their proposition is straight forward - email your photo slideshow over to them, pick some cool (copyright approved) music or musac and bingo they'll mash it all together and create a free Web video. Which could make you look cooler at YouTube, your blog or wherever.

Chez Animoto 30 second clips are free. Thereafter you pay - proving that Fremium models are all the rage. But I'm left with one niggling question. Why doesn't everyone just buy a Flip and go DIY?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

iPadio Do Phlogging

Phlogging (phone or audio blogging) seems all the rage. Recently we reviewed a free service from Audio Boo. And here's another. It's called iPadio which is interesting branding. It rings with I paid. For radio?

And there is the big question - who pays? For Audio Boo it seems no one. iPadio are aptly named because companies do - consumers don't. After all someone's gotta pay right? Ipadio's USP for consumers is that you can apparently use any phone to phlogg - oh and of course its free - whereas Audio Boo is free but just for iPhone users right now - which is a growing and Web savvy audience.

iPadio believe that their phone-to-Web model has multiple business applications including customer service, field agents who need to report, Radio and disability services. But which is their killer app? Beats me. Maybe its too early to tell. Phlogging holds a great deal of promise and the early players are off - it will be interesting to see how Six Apart and Google's Blogger respond. They should be in the mix.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Need a Start Page - Start.io

Need a Web based, easy and quick to set, public up start page - check start.io. You can get up and running in minutes with all your favorite, publicly accessible links, nicely categorized and ready for you to share with the world. It could even become a link driven human home page.

And this probably points to the future of start.io - your personal portal to stuff that matters most that you also want to share. Beyond this, it could be neat for start.io to allow you to run your blog, twitter feed and more scrolling live, next to your links at your home page.

Then, bingo, forget my Yahoo - it's myPortal. And I'd buy into it for one.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Wolfram Alpha Challenges Google?

Wolfram Alpha, the next wave in Internet search with a couple of branding challenges, is going live on the 18th May. Just 5 days to go. It feels like a countdown to something, well, potentially huge. Wolfram Alpha could be the next Google. It's a next generation search engine that answers your question by scanning the Web, then utilizes the most advanced computational models to turn Web based data into newly computed answers to your original search query. If that sounds like techno mumbo jumbo let me try and explain it more simply.

Wolfram Alpha will attempt to give you real answers to real questions - not just a list of relevant links. So, if you type in 'how long does it take to fly from New York to London' you will get a real answer such as 7 hours, not just a bunch of relevant links a la Google.

The huge question is is Wolfram Alpha competitor to Google or partner? Given that Google is desperately, behind the scenes, trying to come up with a similarish service - they see them as competitor first. For us users they should be hugely complimentary Wolfram Alpha gives you direct answers to your questions, Google gives you links. But guess who Google's gonna try and buy damned soon??

Friday, May 08, 2009

Stupeflix Does Video Mash-ups

Stupeflix, (stupid!) is a Web 2.0 start-up offering mash-ups of your latest pics, words and videos to produce a professional looking video - stupid! It reminds me of Apple's iMovie for the Web. So for all of you who do not own a Mac or are too lazy to figure out iMovie here's one for you.

Also, if you use your smartphone to shoot movies and take pics they have a nifty way to mash 'em together without the vid/pic/word thing looking to kitsch. Or amateur.

For the rest of us I guess we'll hang onto our MacBooks and use iMovie a while longer. But they're worth watching...

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Audio Boo Does Podcasting on the Go - iPhone

So here's a cool new Web 2.0, Brit tech, start-up - with a splash of iPhone. It's called Audio Boo and it's a podcasting tool for the masses. You sign in at audioboo.fm, then download their iPhone app, and presto it turns your iPhone into a podcasting recording device. After recording some fruity voice messages/snippets/personal radio rantings it automatically loads and plays your track at your personal Audio Boo page.

It's kinda like a YouTube for podcasting - assuming you've got an iPhone of course. But, hey there's enough of those around the place by now and if it takes off they can probably port to other smartphones. Recording quality is OK but cramped by iPhone speaker ruggedness and we're not quite sure how long you can podcast for at any one speak'ing. Other than that its a start-up worth watching and an iPhone app worth downloading. Unlike most of the rest of the 35,000 plus out there!